


Just like an amnesiac

by cl0wnf11sh



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Brief mention of Magnus, Ep. 7. Moonlighting - Chapter One, Even briefer mention of The Voidfish, Ficlet, Gen, Memory magic and trauma are always a bad combination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 09:35:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10160327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cl0wnf11sh/pseuds/cl0wnf11sh
Summary: Taako stares silently at the vial of ink-black liquid in front of him, grimacing slightly and considering whether he wants to do this or not. They can't do this, right? This is ridiculous. Probably dangerous.or,"You remember a war, a great and terrible war where a lot of your friends died, and the first words out of your mouth are 'sour cream'?" -Griffin McElroy





	

**Author's Note:**

> A ficlet idea that popped into my head exploring the impact I think suddenly regaining a slew of traumatic war memories would affect someone like Taako. Title is from St. Vincent's song "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood."

Taako stares silently at the vial of ink-black liquid in front of him, grimacing slightly and considering whether he wants to do this or not. They can't do this, right? This is ridiculous. Probably dangerous. 

Of course, Magnus downs it without question. It's just like him, and there's a sick feeling of dread in his stomach as they silently stand there staring at their teammate as he goes stiff and stares at nothing in turn like some sort of undead creature. Finally, finally he's back and the elf's a little less nervous, but he feels no better as Magnus feverishly recounts what he's learned and all they hear is that blasted headache-inducing static. 

He can't take this anymore. Muttering a quiet "Fuck it" under his breath he downs the suspicious liquid, wanting to grimace and remark at the taste, but there's no time to do that before the feeling hits him like a freight train.

Taako remembers.

He remembers that Orcish woman telling them she was from the Bureau of Balance back in the caves and a handful of other terms- but that doesn't matter. None of it matters. Taako feels sick, because he _remembers_. Taako remembers the war.

The war. Oh, god, the _war_. He remembers schoolmates and neighbors and family that made up such prominant parts of his life, all dead, suddenly flooding back into an empty space he hadn't even known was there. _Why didn't he remember?_ How could he ever forget each of their deaths, how he mourned each of them and how each pushed him a little closer to an emotional breaking point he knew was coming? Details return, one by one, and everything's so vivid he almost wants it to all be forgotten again. 

He's got to think of something else. Anything else. Another memory, one of being at his grandfather's ranch in the summer (he didn't even remember he had a grandfather, a gigantic chunk of his childhood had just gone missing and he never _noticed_ ), and something he said to him- he can't concentrate on it. It feels vaguely important in a very unimportant way compared to the revelation he's just gone through, but it's something to latch onto to distract himself. 

Taako feels himself mumbling along with the words he remembers his grandfather saying to him before he's collapsing to the floor, and when he's helped up he's got that dumbfuck smile plastered on again. "Guys, I don't think that was Gogurt." Yes. This is better. He's back to acting like nothing at all happened. 

Of course, that's true. Nothing happened at all. He just got some sweet memories back or something. Taako has a laugh about how it was probably the ethereal, beautiful animal's excrement they just drank, and when they all go to sleep many hours later he stares at the pillow of his top-bunk bed, wide awake until the wee hours of the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I never thought my first published piece on this sight would be TaZ content, seeing as I've been thinking up stuff for other fandoms for a damn long time and I only started listening to TaZ about a week ago. Additionally, yes, this is my first fic I've ever felt good enough about to publish online, so please be gentle. Non-attacky feedback and generally interaction would be super!


End file.
